True Blood –
Jesus Gonna Be Here

So if you have stuck around after 6 seasons of some great, some good, and some incredibly awful seasons of television then you have found yourself here….reading about the premiere of the final season of True Blood.

This episode started right where it left us off in season six…well…actually mid vampage. The shot of Sookie walking around in fast slo-mo was an effective way to bring us back (Sidenote: it’s also how I felt when I watched seasons 3 & 5). The vampage wasn’t the only way they brought us back, but they killed off Tara. It was a bold move but they want us to expect anything. My only issue was it felt like we needed that moment to have more emphasis. Tara has been one of the most important characters on the show, if she truly is dead (we never saw her die so maybe?) her final death shoulda been an emotional moment. This felt like a snag in an overall effective return to Bon Temps madness.

A couple other stand out moments included: the callback to Sookie hearing the town people in her head like she did when we first meet her and how the chatter has evolved. The other instance was Andy Bellefleur. It was nice he finally got to have a moment where the actor could show off a different side. I hope we to see it more.

As for the storyline itself, it is very weak. Dying vamps feeding on a town is in no way logical (even for the show), let alone compelling. The point is most likely that the human vs vampire conflict has lead to this, but still it needs work. There are two factors that could make it work, the first we started seeing already, which is this threat brings the focus on the core group of people that the audience cares about and ending their stories. One of the shows biggest issues has been too many people with too much stuff going on getting too much screen time. The second storyline savior could be the way the show does time frames over the course of a season (i.e. two days over the course of a 8 episodes). Will they make it work? Only time will tell.

In summation, Jesus Gonna Be Here, has told us:

“Game of Thrones isn’t the only HBO show that can kill the characters you love. People still haven’t moved from this town…really?! Pam is never not badass. Jessica might be the heart of the show. True Blood: Now featuring TEA Party allegories. Lafayette will always be the most consistent bit of awesome on the show. If he makes it to the end, Jason Stackhouse should probably enter rehab for sex addiction. Alcide is most likely gonna die. The writers and editor think Sookie’s church monologue was optimistic and in no way corny…poor dumb bastards.”

With 9 episodes left I hope we see less of the really bad soap opera stuff and more of what made the show so cool to begin with. This episode was a mixture of both, but for the first time in forever (I rewatched Frozen recently) there was more good than bad. If nothing else, that gives me hope True Blood might actually end strong.

Keep geek.

-Sidney

[line]

Sidney Stokes lives in an loft apt in the gayborhood of New Nerd City on the Planet Pop, but outside of his head…he lives in Los Angeles where his interests are as vast as and spread out as LALA Land. Follow Sidney on Twitter here.